This recipe is based on a delicious dish made by Laura DaMiano, a Quebecois chef. She loves the flavor of butternut squash paired with Oka cheese, a mild, semisoft cow's-milk cheese. Mild Cheddar can be used as a substitute. If you are making this entire menu in a single oven, and you are not making the scalloped squash ahead, you can bake the squash while the ham is standing after braising.
·Squash can be baked (but not cut into rounds) 2 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled, covered. If cutting rounds, cut them out while gratin is cold, then transfer to a buttered baking sheet and reheat in lower third of a preheated 350°F oven 15 minutes. If leaving gratin whole, reheat in middle of a 350°F oven 25 minutes.
·In the photographs, we stacked 2 squash rounds for each serving. Since we needed 16 rounds to do this, we cut 15 rounds from gratin and formed 1 more round from the scraps.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 8 servings
Ingredients
Special Equipment
Preparation
Step 1
Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 13- by 9-inch glass baking dish (3-quart capacity).
Step 2
Stir together salt and pepper in a small bowl. Cut off necks of squash, reserving bottoms for another use (you will have about 3 pounds necks). Peel squash and very thinly slice crosswise with slicer.
Step 3
Layer one third of squash slices, overlapping, in baking dish and sprinkle with some of salt and pepper mixture. Sprinkle with half of cheese, then layer half of remaining squash slices on top and sprinkle with some of salt and pepper mixture. Top with remaining cheese and remaining squash slices, then sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.
Step 4
Bring cream and thyme sprigs to a simmer in a small saucepan over moderate heat. Discard thyme and pour cream evenly over squash. Put a sheet of parchment paper on surface of squash and poke a few holes in parchment with a knife. Bake squash until tender, about 45 minutes.
Step 5
Discard parchment and let squash stand 10 minutes before serving. If desired, cut rounds from squash with cookie cutter and transfer to plates with a spatula.
Step 6
*Available at Asian markets, cookware shops, and Uwajimaya (800-889-1928).
